I Reincarnated As A Villain From TL Novel.

3. When He pitied

I woke up to a male doctor examining his breathing rate and pattern, a stethoscope against his chest. 

"He is waking up!" I heard Luica in distance. The doctor turned his attention towards Luica as he started explaining his condition to her. By the facial expressions of the doctor, it seems that he is relieved that there was nothing to worry about regarding Leonard's condition. This is when I decided to organize my thoughts. 

First of all, I am Leonard Thiston, evil crown prince of Thiston Kingdom. That is, I am also the Villain in the story 'In the garden of Royal Palace'. The hero and heroine of the book both are from the neighboring glorious kingdom, where the main plot will be set, Huidsian kingdom. But even if Leonard was a greedy bastard, how was he an antagonist to people who are from another country altogether ? The answer is his wife. Luica Ralon. Luica was daughter of Duke Simon Ralon, from the neighboring country of Huidsian. This was his one tie with the kingdom. The next should the trade of 'Kel'.  Kel is an expensive form of silk, that is used in making clothes for the nobles. Kel is however only found in Thiston, and is in high demand in the countries surrounding it. So how was Leonard villain again? You see, Luica and Edward are childhood friends, that is why Edward often comes to visit the crown princess, at least he should be at this point, considering he hasn't met the female lead yet (Later when he do, he will get quite busy in his own life to come and visit his friend as often.) as Luica did mention she hasn't turned eighteen yet. 

Leonard, is envious of all the fame and honor Edward receive. That is why, he did not missed an opportunity to sully the name of his wife and Edward, this gives him room to banish the trade of Kel, because he did not really cared about the damage it will give to his economy. He became 'the villain' when he was invited by Duke Ralon to sort things out. In the dukedom of Ralon, he meets Patricia Collin, as the acting economist from Huidsian kingdom, as well as the crown princess of the country by the time, to list the cons of banishing the trade to the Thiston kingdom. This showed that the meeting was formal, as Duke of Huidsian kingdom and King of Thiston kingdom, and not as Father and Husband of Luica Ralon. Needless to say, Leonard was impressed by Patricia, and decided to send her a proposal. It was however rejected, since Patricia was already engaged to Edward, this made Leonard more fixated on marrying the heroine, now for the sake of triggering Edward. In this chaos of proving he is better and he can have everything Edward wants, he did many things that made everyone wary of him. Firstly, he did not stopped his 'flirting' with the female lead, despite having a wife, and knowing of Patricia's engagement. Secondly, he kidnapped the female lead, somewhere in middle of the novel, and was so for many chapters. This lead to Edward losing a war against southern civilizations as he was constantly distracted by Leonard's threats.  Lastly he declared a war on the Huidsian empire, which was the last straw to his downfall. He decided a war when the kingdom's finance was already low, and as a result Huidsian acquired it. 

Luica? Luica didn't have much role in the novel itself, she was there to make Leonard look more villainous. My eyes fell on the said azure haired woman. She was done talking with the doctors and was ordering maids to prepare tea and such. I couldn't help feel more and more pity for her. When I was reading the novel as Aiden, I always felt that Luica deserves much better. She was supporting character at most, and her death wasn't described in detail either, except that she died in ship wreck.  Looking at her now, I realized. In the novel she wasn't in spotlight, hence her life and behavior was not described much. The person in front of me is not just a character acting on the novel. She was living breathing being. Even all the servants around. In the novel they were nameless extras, but now they have a name and a life. I should be considering the plot but should not forget that now, this is reality and not novel. 

"Your Highness?" My train of thoughts stopped, as I looked at the owner of the voice. "Why are you looking as if your pitying me?" That's because I am. If I take all of Leonard's actions in account, the kingdom still managed to drag longer than expected, this must be because of the Queen. This means that even though she was ignorant of her husband and hence her duties as a wife, she was never ignorant of her duties as a queen. This made me regret all the thing I haven't even done yet. She really had the most unfair life out of all the characters. 

"I am sorry, Luica." I whispered, but she seemed to have caught on my words, because there was surprise in her eyes, she didn't say anything but her eyes softened. The comforting silence that settled in the room was soon break when maids returned with Tea and refreshments. Edna was leading the maids as they set cutlery on the coffee table, and dragged seat for Luica to sit. 

In our plates set fine pieces of chocolate cake, iced with chocolate cream and bits of chocolates, with one strawberry on the side. Chamomile tea was poured alongside in a gold colored crockery. I can't say I was much surprised with the taste that tingled as soon as the cake touched my taste buds. It was delicious and I can't help but eat the whole piece quickly, only stopping to swallow for sometime. The maids left us for some privacy, and the only noise that was in the room was of clanking of my crockery, come to think of it, why was Luica only staring at me eating. This was making the whole scene awkward.

I stopped and gulped the food in my mouth before, wiping my face with a handkerchief . 

"Is something wrong?" I asked, this seem to have stop whatever she was thinking. 

"No." She replied, somewhat startled. 

"Please eat, I would feel uncomfortable if you don't." I tried to persuade. 

"Your highness, I-" She seemed to be hesitant. "I can't!" She sighed after looking at my still confused face before she started playing with her thumbs, nervous. However, she did explained herself. "If I eat, I won't be able to fit in the ball dress, for the upcoming Ball held in the Huidsian." She relied somewhat guiltily. 

"Then I won't eat either." I set my plate aside, although it was my third piece. She looked at me shocked. 

"You can't, you seem to quite like the cake." She replied hastily. This made me somewhat embarrassed. I mean Aiden always had a sweet tooth, what about Leonard.

"That would be ok. However, I rather you eat some of the cake, if necessary we would order another dress before the ball, and consider it as a gift from me." I smiled. Luica, however, seemed uncomfortable. This must be my newly practiced kindness. Leonard was ignorant of Luica, so this much is expected.

"Are you uncomfortable because of my sudden change in attitude?" 

"What I- Your Highness, I don't- I- I-" She blabbered before hanging her head low. "Yes." she murmured. Is it ok to tell people about reincarnation? I mean I cant just barge this information on her "Yo! I am actually Aiden, but Aiden died, so now I am Leonard." If I do something like this, she'll probably think I am a weirdo, and get scared, or even more reserved around me. Nobody told me rules of reincarnation. 

"You know when I drowned, my life came in front of my eyes, of all the wrong I did, and I realized how I don't want to die like that. I regret doing everything. Now that I am blessed with life, I want to correct my methods before it's too late." Somehow, this doesn't sound as a lie. She looked at me, judging for a moment, before her lips broke into a smile. 

"Yes! Your Highness." She cheered. She is too accepting. Now I wish, Leonard was in front of me so I could beat some sense into his peanut sized brain. 

The girl Luica, not only her Husband was bastard, she was also looked down upon other ladies for being 'Ugly', she was too insecure of herself to stand for herself, and use her authority. Additionally her friendship with the Crown prince brought her much jealousy from the single noble ladies, who desired Edward's hand in marriage. I don't want her to die after living such a life, I want her to enjoy at least some of it. I want to do everything in my power to do that.